Plastic bottle caps used as a tee

[Sawgrass]

5 minutes ago, 2bGood said:

Sorry I missed you follow up post to clarify that you had provided your own summary of the information you received rather than their words.

 

I don't want to put word in your mouth, but it sounds like what you received was an opinion on interpreting the rules from a USGA official and not a ruling? Is this accurate or did they give you a ruling or something different?

 

I ask more out of curiosity as my recent inquires in this thread resulted in only a non-binding opinion rather than a ruling. I found it kind of let down as I was hoping for something definitive. 

I’m unclear as to the distinction between what you call a ruling vs. an opinion.

 

I exchanged emails with a very senior person in the equipment rules area in the USGA.  He was articulate and made it clear that an object designed to be something other than a tee could not be modified into a legal tee.  While I did not ask a follow-up question regarding an attempt to return such an object to its earlier raw material state, I am comfortable with my assumption that recycled plastic could be molded via a mold designed to create tees, and I confess I don’t care very much if I’m wrong in that assumption as I doubt I’ll ever need to know!

[2bGood]

2 hours ago, Sawgrass said:

I’m unclear as to the distinction between what you call a ruling vs. an opinion.

 

 

 

When I have reached out to ruling bodies with more esoteric questions like this, the response I get includes the disclaimer below:

 

This is my analyses/opinion and only provided to assist interested individuals in better understanding and interpreting the Rules of Golf. Should a Committee require an official decision on the Rules of Golf, they should submit their query to...

 

Basically the distinction is the information provided can not be used to make an official decision. 

 

I have never submitted a question like this for an official decision as the need has never occurred. 

 

[rogolf]

1 hour ago, 2bGood said:

 

When I have reached out to ruling bodies with more esoteric questions like this, the response I get includes the disclaimer below:

 

This is my analyses/opinion and only provided to assist interested individuals in better understanding and interpreting the Rules of Golf. Should a Committee require an official decision on the Rules of Golf, they should submit their query to...

 

Basically the distinction is the information provided can not be used to make an official decision. 

 

I have never submitted a question like this for an official decision as the need has never occurred. 

 

If I recall correctly, when you reported back on your inquiry, you said that you doubted that an official ruling would be any different than the answer you received?

[2bGood]

14 hours ago, rogolf said:

If I recall correctly, when you reported back on your inquiry, you said that you doubted that an official ruling would be any different than the answer you received?

Correct, I don't have reason to believe it would be different - but all the same in the end it is just the opinion of someone else who happens to have more knowledge than I do.

 

It is like asking a Judge - Do you think I would win in a court if I fought this traffic ticket? Judge says "yes - you would likely win in my opinion."  It is nice information but in no way binding and you still have pay the traffic ticket - unless you go fight it in court and win. 

 

That is the distinction between an opinion provided by a RB official and an official decision.

 

The other point about an official decision is they are entered into record and used as the bases for future decisions. Opinions giving by officials may/will differ from official to official. 

Edited November 26, 2020 by 2bGood

[nsxguy]

14 minutes ago, 2bGood said:

It is like asking a Judge - Do you think I would win in a court if I fought this traffic ticket? Judge says "yes - you would likely win in my opinion."  It is nice information but in no way binding and you still have pay the traffic ticket - unless you go fight it in court and win. 

 

That is the distinction between an opinion provided by a RB official and an official decision.

 

The other point about an official decision is they are entered into record and used as the bases for future decisions. Opinions giving by officials may/will differ from official to official. 

 

Edited November 26, 2020 by nsxguy

[rogolf]

10 hours ago, 2bGood said:

Correct, I don't have reason to believe it would be different - but all the same in the end it is just the opinion of someone else who happens to have more knowledge than I do.

 

It is like asking a Judge - Do you think I would win in a court if I fought this traffic ticket? Judge says "yes - you would likely win in my opinion."  It is nice information but in no way binding and you still have pay the traffic ticket - unless you go fight it in court and win. 

 

That is the distinction between an opinion provided by a RB official and an official decision.

 

The other point about an official decision is they are entered into record and used as the bases for future decisions. Opinions giving by officials may/will differ from official to official. 

I think that it is quite normal that ruling bodies/national associations will only provide "rulings" on real situations, not hypothetical situations.  That's understandable, as the outcome may require authorization from more than one person, perhaps even a Rules Committee.

[2bGood]

1 hour ago, rogolf said:

I think that it is quite normal that ruling bodies/national associations will only provide "rulings" on real situations, not hypothetical situations.  That's understandable, as the outcome may require authorization from more than one person, perhaps even a Rules Committee.

Agreed. I totally think it is normal I was just pointing it out in hope we could get to 10 pages. 😀

 

 

[rogolf]

12 minutes ago, 2bGood said:

Agreed. I totally think it is normal I was just pointing it out in hope we could get to 10 pages. 😀

 

 

Is 10 pages a moment of Thanksgiving?  🙃

[TFavor]

On 9/17/2020 at 2:39 PM, Sawgrass said:

We don’t see the implications of “designed” the same way (designed by me out of existing materials/bottle caps?).  I’ll ask the USGA for guidance.

Did you ever find any guidance on this issue from the ruling authority? 
Further pontification may be required 

[Halebopp]

56 minutes ago, TFavor said:

Did you ever find any guidance on this issue from the ruling authority? 
Further pontification may be required 

 

If I remember correctly, he did.

[TFavor]

57 minutes ago, Halebopp said:

 

If I remember correctly, he did.

Was there another thread on it or? where did he answer it

[Dpavs]

You can find the answer in Sawgrass's response above -

 

[Halebopp]

5 hours ago, TFavor said:

Was there another thread on it or? where did he answer it

 

In this thread, like mentioned above.

[Sawgrass]

7 minutes ago, Halebopp said:

 

In this thread, like mentioned above.

I miss the previous system's labeling each post with a number to which one can refer.  At least on my devices, such a number no longer appears. (Unless I've inadvertently changed a setting?)

[Halebopp]

Just now, Sawgrass said:

I miss the previous system's labeling each post with a number to which one can refer.  At least on my devices, such a number no longer appears. (Unless I've inadvertently changed a setting?)

 

Click on the tree dots on the top-right corner of the message and choose "share", then paste the link here.

 

 

[nsxguy]

2 hours ago, Sawgrass said:

I miss the previous system's labeling each post with a number to which one can refer.  At least on my devices, such a number no longer appears. (Unless I've inadvertently changed a setting?)

 

Nothing to do with settings.

 

This software doesn't support numbering the posts.

[ChaosTheory]

If I recycled bottle caps, and packaged and marketed them as golf tees, wouldn’t they be golf tees?

Edited January 17, 2021 by Snowman9000

[Sawgrass]

3 minutes ago, Snowman9000 said:

If I recycled bottle caps, and packaged and marketed them as golf tees, wouldn’t they be golf tees?

Sure they would: Illegal golf tees.  
 

Could be a great business. 

[ChaosTheory]

Just now, Sawgrass said:

Sure they would: Illegal golf tees.  
 

Could be a great business. 

If instead of direct recycling, I melted the bottle caps down, then re-manufactured the material into the exact same design, could they then be sold as conforming golf tees?

[Sawgrass]

3 hours ago, Snowman9000 said:

If instead of direct recycling, I melted the bottle caps down, then re-manufactured the material into the exact same design, could they then be sold as conforming golf tees?

My response is at the very top of this page 9.

[rogolf]

5 hours ago, Snowman9000 said:

If instead of direct recycling, I melted the bottle caps down, then re-manufactured the material into the exact same design, could they then be sold as conforming golf tees?

That sounds like a lot of work when you could just buy a couple of tees and be done with it.

(or are you just into arguing hypotheticals for the fun of it?  Remember that too much fun is a DQ.)

Edited January 18, 2021 by rogolf

[Mr. Bean]

On 1/17/2021 at 11:09 PM, Snowman9000 said:

If instead of direct recycling, I melted the bottle caps down, then re-manufactured the material into the exact same design, could they then be sold as conforming golf tees?

 

You mean bottle caps? No. Tees? Yes.

Edited January 19, 2021 by Mr. Bean